Akamai has introduced a new solution powered by NVIDIA designed to help protect critical systems from cyberattacks. By combining Akamai Guardicore Segmentation software with NVIDIA BlueField Data Processing Units (DPUs), the solution supports operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS), including equipment that cannot run traditional security agents.
The hardware-isolated, agentless security approach is intended to help organisations meet regulatory requirements and manage cyber insurance risk profiles. Protecting infrastructure such as water plants and power grids has historically been challenging, as many of these environments rely on legacy systems that cannot accommodate conventional cybersecurity tools.
The solution offloads security processes from host systems to NVIDIA’s BlueField DPUs, enabling Zero Trust segmentation without installing software agents on legacy or sensitive systems. This approach provides out-of-band visibility across systems, networks, and applications while avoiding disruption to operational processes. Security policies can be applied in real time to create segmentation boundaries around operational systems.
The agentless architecture also enables organisations to filter network threats and isolate compromised systems at the hardware level, including scenarios where central computing systems are breached. NVIDIA BlueField functions as an independent “bump-in-the-wire” device, designed to minimise impact on system performance and operational uptime.
The solution can also detect anomalous network connections and potential indicators of compromise. The announcement comes as government assessments identify sectors such as energy and transportation as key targets for cyberattacks.
The collaboration between Akamai and NVIDIA provides organisations with visibility into operational activity and a method for applying security controls to environments where installing software agents is not feasible.
